Back on The Horsecycle

Learning to ride can be a trying process. There are often many scrapes and bruises along the way to mastering the skills of learning to pedal and balance, while watching where you are going and steering and braking when necessary. There is a lot going on all at once and it can be quite overwhelming. Falling off the bicycle is as much a part of learning to ride as anything else.

The same is true about learning to run this race that we call the “Christian Life.” Learning to put one foot in front of the other, while staying on the straight and narrow path, and resisting the seemingly endless number of distractions and obstacles that try to trip you up, can seem all but impossible at times. The truth is that we all stumble and fall on occasion, ok, sometimes it is more like constantly than occasionally. The most important thing that we can do is get into the truly stubborn habit of not giving up.

Falling off that horse, or bicycle, whichever, can often be a very painful experience that can leave you seriously considering giving up altogether. One way that we find the motivation to get back on and keep trying is by realizing that we are almost at our destination. We fall off, we get bruised and more than a little embarrassed, but then we see that we are closer than ever before to our goal. So we climb back on and keep going. Falling may have hurt and certainly slowed us down but it didn’t send us all the way back to the start to have to begin all over again.

When you stumble as a believer, and we all do, it is important to realize that although it hurts and leaves you feeling embarrassed and ashamed it is not the end of the line for you. You don’t have to start all over with God every time you mess up. Your race may have been disrupted a little but a simple heart-felt acknowledgement that you still need Jesus is all it takes to have Him pick you up, dust you off, tend to your wounds, and set your feet back on the track. He never kicks you when you are down and you should never kick yourself or anyone else. We are all running this race to the one common goal of receiving the eternal reward that Jesus died for. Don’t give up, get back on the horse, I mean bicycle.

“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭3:9‬ ‭NLT‬‬